Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology employs a layer of mono-crystalline silicon overlaying an insulation layer on a supporting bulk silicon wafer. Field effect transistors (FETs) are fabricated in the silicon layer. SOI technology makes possible certain performance advantages, such as a reduction in parasitic junction capacitance, useful in the semiconductor industry.
To accurately model SOI FET behavior, gate tunneling current from the gate to the body of the FET in the channel region must be accurately determined. This current is difficult to measure because construction of body-contacted SOI FETs utilize relatively large areas of non-channel region dielectric which adds parasitic leakage current from the gate to non-channel regions of the FET. The parasitic leakage current can exceed the channel region leakage current, making accurate modeling impossible.
Therefore, there is a need for a silicon-on-insulator field effect transistor with reduced non-channel gate to body leakage and a structure and method for measuring tunnel leakage current of a silicon-on-insulator field effect transistors.